yeah true. I was just naming top 3 that seem to be bubbling up in conversation
1 Like
Pulling one stat through 4 games doesnāt prove anything, especially when 2 games were against poor competition. He averaged .9 bpg last year which is not a strong total.
Also, I donāt know how you can debate that verticality has nothing to do with finishing. Being able to catch lobs and dunk over people has a ton of value and Blake flat out is not a threat to do that. It also increases shooting percentages for bigs. Also, itās a lot easier to finish around the rim when youāre not worried about getting blocked all the time.
0.9 blocks per game is pretty good when youāre only playing 15 mins per game. Extrapolate that out, and itās almost 3 blocks per 40 minutes of action. He does quite well in that area.
Blake is not having trouble finishing at the rim because heās supposedly not a good athlete. The two arenāt related. Heās having trouble finishing at the rim because heās just not an ultra skilled offensive player with great touch yet. Btw, he did have a really nice move in the paint last night, and went around the toilet bowl and popped out.
I wonāt be convinced Bb isnāt a good athlete. He may have other issues, but heās without a doubt a good athlete, especially when compared to previous UVA 5 men.
2 Likes
The offense is different. See Cutsā work for supporting evidence. Not sure exactly what you want the offense to look like so how about you draw up some new sets for us to run and drop them in the suggestion box? Xs and Os aināt the problem.
I donāt get the obsession with āpace.ā Other teams in the bottom 50 in torvikās tempo stats include Houston and UConn. If we had those teams would you be whining about pace? Based on my advanced eye test metric and the hundreds of seconds I have spent breaking down tape, it is obvious to me that we are in fact playing faster by trying to attack the basket sooner. Thatās not going to show up in the stats when you play Tennessee because they had quite a bit to say (ie ānoā) about our ability to attack the basket sooner. Half our pace is our defense. A lot of the rest is shot selection. I personally donāt really want us to take worse shots for the sake of pace. Would I like us to take more good shots and then also make more of them? Yeah Iād like that but really what Iād like is to win.
3 Likes
More like pooped out.
2 Likes
If Bliss plays or closely resembles Steph Curry we are good.
If heās slow, un-athletic and a tad soft like most of our roster, it really wonāt matter much.
Iām not holding out much hope on Bliss (even without the injury bug). We need better guards.
Wish we can get Eli back and healthy.
2 Likes
Agree about his athleticism overall. I think for Blake itās two things 1) not super explosive - his time to get to the rim is a bit slow compared to some top bigs, 2) decision-making and hesitation, which should iron out in time. I actually thought on 2 he looked pretty good last night.
2 Likes
On #1, we are saying the same thing. Itās a new offense. My disagreement was whether itās a break from Bennett ball or not. My view: itās not! It was literally designed by Tony or while Tony was HC.
On pace - Iām not hung up on pace. Which is why I donāt particularly like our commitment to going slow. I feel like our staff is hung up on pace. And thatās not good, and it hurts their ability to improve the offense. Iām hung up on not running cruddy offense. And if youāre running cruddy offense, you have to change.
But really I donāt want to get hung up on any particular element of this. Itās a multi dimensional problem. (And tbh, the top one still seems to be personnel, which is a bummer)
2 Likes
BlockquoteSomeone probably said this already, but against an overplay-style pressure defense, the main way to beat them is off the bounce/on closeouts and use the aggressiveness against them, but we are missing that on the perimeter. And I donāt think we tried to hit a back cut once, that needs to happen to keep those kinds of defenses honest. Itās like using playaction against a defense loading up against the run.
It seems that for several years now, this is where our offense has struggled, particularly in the tournament. It seems that defenses overplay and are not worried that our playmakers can beat them off the driibble either because they lack the athleticism/handles to do it, or are uncomfortable driving and finishing at the rim.
7 Likes
I think thatās right in one way.
The game changed last night when Ames picked up two quick (comically bad in light of the first-half whistle) fouls in the first 1:38 of the second half last night.
A 1-point game became 11 while he was on the bench. His time on the pine did two things. (1) Zeigler now had openings to exploit, scrambling the defense and putting Lanier in easier spots to catch and shoot. (2) Ames was our best athlete and the only one who could get inside their defense and get them scrambling.
Iām not sure Bliss would have calmed things down all that much ā not a plus-athlete and struggled laterally ā but he is a PG with wiggle and a shot, better than replacement value from last night.
2 Likes
Tony was just scrabbling last recruiting cycle so many mixed reports of which recruit(s) fit/donāt fit (remember the staff questioned if Dai Dai fit when it looked like he was going to Wake). It was a mad scramble for a month or so. We need better players across the board.
4 Likes
Yeah, really glad we got Dai Dai given how everything has shaken out
3 Likes
Blake had a pretty big differential with his on-offs for opponent shooting% at the rim last season; 48% in his on minutes, 60% in his off minutes. This season itās equal, about 44% in both on and off minutes. But I think that does suggest that rim protection isnāt the issue with him. I am worried about him showing symptoms of Shedrick-itis on defense, where his rim protection efforts are opening the door for opponents to grab offensive rebounds. Small sample size caveats apply, of course.
His problem ā besides instincts ā is his fluidity. Every offensive motion is hurky-jerky.
Very Shedrick-like. I think heās still getting comfortable in his body, so to speak.
Our Steelers pissed me off last night man. Still heated. Smh
Ahh man donāt get me started, Slick! Now Iām just grumpy today from my two main teams losing and getting hardly any sleep. Could easily be staring at a disastrous sports week with UVA being heavy underdogs tonight in hoops and tomorrow in football.
Need a W tonight to change the vibes around here and make me forget those two games ever happened last night.
1 Like
Last year, it was just the effect of swapping in for Groves. Now theyāre mostly going to Cofie.
I think Blake is pretty good at rim protection. I didnāt follow the tributary of this convoā¦
2 Likes
I think we are aligned in our views that our offense is not good. Where we are not aligned apparently is that you seem to view it as a matter of scheme whereas I view it as a matter of talent. Hopefully we can all be aligned on the concept that I am right and you are wrong.
I think this is entirely incorrect. Pace is an output not an input.
I literally typed that I think personnel is our most important issue. 
1 Like
I see that you added that caveat posthumously (after I murdered your argument) but you spend all your wordtime typing up complaints about system and staff so I inferred that your main issue is with scheme. But please allow me to clarify and rectify: my opinion on the main difference between my opinion and your opinion is a matter of schematic variability insofar as you seem to believe that the staff should ādo something differentā and I seem to believe that nothing the staff has can or will do matters because this roster is going to continue to enjoy Arbyās whether you like it or not.
1 Like